Live with Ginger Baker (1971)
Originally recorded in 1971 and 1978 by Fela Kuti’s band, Africa 70, with the addition of former Cream drummer Ginger Baker, this album contains 4 songs plus a bonus track 16-minute drum duet between Baker and Africa 70’s drummer Tony Allen recorded at the 1978 Berlin Jazz Festival.
Tracks
Let’s Start
‘Let us start what we’ve come into the room to do’ is telling it as it is — graphic explicit sex. Sung in Yoruba with some broken English explanations, Fela calls on his partner in the room to get on with it, ‘don’t play the innocent…let’s start! Take off your clothes! Let’s start!’. The recording has Ginger Baker, of the former English pop group ‘Cream’ playing live as guest drummer on some tracks like Let’s Start, in place of Tony Allen, the regular drum player in Fela’s Africa 70 band. The Album titled ‘Live with Ginger Baker’ was recorded in the sixteen track mobile studio Ginger Baker sold to Polygram Nigeria in 1976.
Black Man’s Cry
Black man’s cry is about identity. ‘I am black and proud’ Fela sings in Yoruba, ‘Who says Black is not beautiful! Bring that person out, let me see!’ — he challenges, ‘There is nothing as beautiful as the black skin! Look at me! Look at me very well! There is nothing as beautiful as the black skin! Look at me very well!’. It is a song to rid the black mind of inferiority complex, particularly Africans who use chemical products to bleach their skin, or Africans who feel inferior to the White folks.
Ye Ye De Smell
Ye ye de smell is about people getting what they deserve-reaping what you sow. If you flirt with another person’s wife, you shouldn’t feel bad if people do the same to you. Literally meaning: bullshit stinks. It implies that if you give people bullshit, you should not be surprised if you get the same back from others.
Egbe Mi O (Carry Me I Want To Die)
“Egbe Me” in Yoruba language means: Carry me. In this song, Fela is singing about the different kinds of things that happen to you while you dance. How could you go into trance while dancing? How in a state of musical trance, the traditional beads women wear under their skirts break without the woman noticing. How a man’s hat would fall of his head while dancing without him noticing. All kinds of things happen to you doing the dance — but you are not alone! ‘…be ke iwo nikan ko’. Fela ends this track with a general chorus calling everybody together with the band: Egbe Mi O!
Written by Mabinuori Kayode Idowu
---
Nigerian Afrobeat star Fela Kuti brought a refreshing attitude to his music. On one hand, he was deeply distrustful of authority in all its forms. On the other, he understood that the members of his groups would have to work together to function as a unit. What emerged from that mindset was a unique approach to group dynamics. While the members of his bands knew they would have to play with precision, they could also play with grace. In this particular incarnation, six percussionists ensure the groove never drifts far, and most of the time the melody instruments also reinforce the beat. Sure, soloists regularly trade leads, and refrains call everyone together. But it is, after all, a difficult task bringing the rich rhythms of Africa together with the driving energy of funk and the panoramic color of jazz. Because Fela could make it work, he became a legend.
Enter Ginger Baker. Baker tooled into Nigeria in 1969, having come directly from Europe in a Land Rover. His stated purpose was to absorb and internalize the rhythms of Africa, and he was remarkably successful in accomplishing this task. Fela Kuti already had an astonishingly brilliant drummer in the form of Tony Allen, who was able to simultaneously perform a world of rhythm. But Ginger Baker brought something new to the mix.
Live! was recorded in 1971 with Fela's group at the time, the Africa 70. Due to its demanding performance schedule, the band is remarkably tight. Interlocking rhythms drive keyboard and guitar vamps, propelling instrumental soloists on trumpet and saxophone. There's a nice jazzy feel here, manifested both in an elastic sense of time and in an ensemble approach to performance. Improvised passages lie interspersed between statements of the theme, with Fela improvising on voice or delivering some rather frank lyrics in English and Yoruba. For example, the message of the opener: Let's get it on! (This piece features Ginger Baker sitting in for Tony Allen on drums, and he does quite well. Baker trades his usual heavy-handed approach for a lighter touch, dancing in and around the beat.)
The last track, recorded live in 1978, is a wonderful addition to the reissue of this record. It's a 16-minute duet between Tony Allen and Ginger Baker. These two men perform as equals, making for an interesting situation. Allen, as usual, is impossible to pin down. Baker manages to integrate and interweave his rhythms, making the combination much greater than the sum of its parts.
Live! is as tight, funky, and sensual as any record Fela Kuti ever made. Having Ginger Baker in the mix makes it a bit unusual, but this is an excellent recording suitable for Fela initiates and devotees alike.
allaboutjazz.com, written by Nils Jacobson
http://afrobeat-music.blogspot.com/2011/05/fela-kuti-live-with-ginger-baker-1971.html
12/29/11
Fela Kuti with Ginger Baker - Live (1971)
Live with Ginger Baker (1971)
Originally recorded in 1971 and 1978 by Fela Kuti’s band, Africa 70, with the addition of former Cream drummer Ginger Baker, this album contains 4 songs plus a bonus track 16-minute drum duet between Baker and Africa 70’s drummer Tony Allen recorded at the 1978 Berlin Jazz Festival.
Tracks
Let’s Start
‘Let us start what we’ve come into the room to do’ is telling it as it is — graphic explicit sex. Sung in Yoruba with some broken English explanations, Fela calls on his partner in the room to get on with it, ‘don’t play the innocent…let’s start! Take off your clothes! Let’s start!’. The recording has Ginger Baker, of the former English pop group ‘Cream’ playing live as guest drummer on some tracks like Let’s Start, in place of Tony Allen, the regular drum player in Fela’s Africa 70 band. The Album titled ‘Live with Ginger Baker’ was recorded in the sixteen track mobile studio Ginger Baker sold to Polygram Nigeria in 1976.
Black Man’s Cry
Black man’s cry is about identity. ‘I am black and proud’ Fela sings in Yoruba, ‘Who says Black is not beautiful! Bring that person out, let me see!’ — he challenges, ‘There is nothing as beautiful as the black skin! Look at me! Look at me very well! There is nothing as beautiful as the black skin! Look at me very well!’. It is a song to rid the black mind of inferiority complex, particularly Africans who use chemical products to bleach their skin, or Africans who feel inferior to the White folks.
Ye Ye De Smell
Ye ye de smell is about people getting what they deserve-reaping what you sow. If you flirt with another person’s wife, you shouldn’t feel bad if people do the same to you. Literally meaning: bullshit stinks. It implies that if you give people bullshit, you should not be surprised if you get the same back from others.
Egbe Mi O (Carry Me I Want To Die)
“Egbe Me” in Yoruba language means: Carry me. In this song, Fela is singing about the different kinds of things that happen to you while you dance. How could you go into trance while dancing? How in a state of musical trance, the traditional beads women wear under their skirts break without the woman noticing. How a man’s hat would fall of his head while dancing without him noticing. All kinds of things happen to you doing the dance — but you are not alone! ‘…be ke iwo nikan ko’. Fela ends this track with a general chorus calling everybody together with the band: Egbe Mi O!
Written by Mabinuori Kayode Idowu
---
Nigerian Afrobeat star Fela Kuti brought a refreshing attitude to his music. On one hand, he was deeply distrustful of authority in all its forms. On the other, he understood that the members of his groups would have to work together to function as a unit. What emerged from that mindset was a unique approach to group dynamics. While the members of his bands knew they would have to play with precision, they could also play with grace. In this particular incarnation, six percussionists ensure the groove never drifts far, and most of the time the melody instruments also reinforce the beat. Sure, soloists regularly trade leads, and refrains call everyone together. But it is, after all, a difficult task bringing the rich rhythms of Africa together with the driving energy of funk and the panoramic color of jazz. Because Fela could make it work, he became a legend.
Enter Ginger Baker. Baker tooled into Nigeria in 1969, having come directly from Europe in a Land Rover. His stated purpose was to absorb and internalize the rhythms of Africa, and he was remarkably successful in accomplishing this task. Fela Kuti already had an astonishingly brilliant drummer in the form of Tony Allen, who was able to simultaneously perform a world of rhythm. But Ginger Baker brought something new to the mix.
Live! was recorded in 1971 with Fela's group at the time, the Africa 70. Due to its demanding performance schedule, the band is remarkably tight. Interlocking rhythms drive keyboard and guitar vamps, propelling instrumental soloists on trumpet and saxophone. There's a nice jazzy feel here, manifested both in an elastic sense of time and in an ensemble approach to performance. Improvised passages lie interspersed between statements of the theme, with Fela improvising on voice or delivering some rather frank lyrics in English and Yoruba. For example, the message of the opener: Let's get it on! (This piece features Ginger Baker sitting in for Tony Allen on drums, and he does quite well. Baker trades his usual heavy-handed approach for a lighter touch, dancing in and around the beat.)
The last track, recorded live in 1978, is a wonderful addition to the reissue of this record. It's a 16-minute duet between Tony Allen and Ginger Baker. These two men perform as equals, making for an interesting situation. Allen, as usual, is impossible to pin down. Baker manages to integrate and interweave his rhythms, making the combination much greater than the sum of its parts.
Live! is as tight, funky, and sensual as any record Fela Kuti ever made. Having Ginger Baker in the mix makes it a bit unusual, but this is an excellent recording suitable for Fela initiates and devotees alike.
allaboutjazz.com, written by Nils Jacobson
http://afrobeat-music.blogspot.com/2011/05/fela-kuti-live-with-ginger-baker-1971.html
